Immigrant Muslim women’s belief and practice of the veil in Southern California

Abstract

The literature lacks a thorough examination of why a Muslim woman decides to veil or not. Thus, utilizing interviews and the theoretical frameworks developed by Tweed, Vasquez, and others, my study investigated the practice and beliefs of Sunni immigrant Muslim women in the Inland Empire in terms of the veil. Because of the global nature of Islam and the transnational Muslim community, their framework may be utilized to evaluate immigrant Muslim women in the United States, who exemplify principles of transnationalism and globalization. Furthermore, my research found that once Muslim women relocate to the Inland Empire and adjust to life in a non-Muslim country, they shift their veiling practice to the hijab since it is the most widespread type of veiling in the United States and attracts less attention. However, their ideas and interpretations of Quranic verses surrounding the veil did not change since the women in the research spent the most of their childhood in a Muslim nation where their beliefs were formed, making them more resistant to change. However, it is different for their second-generation immigrant daughters because they were born in a non-Muslim country, which may affect their practice and belief in veiling and can be a future area of study. Moreover, due to the study's limited sample size the results do not reflect all immigrant Muslim women in Southern California, and thus additional research on this issue is needed to clearly illustrate the influence of immigration on the practice and belief in veiling.